“Presently, the UFC/TKO is requesting an amendment change to the Muhammad Ali Act. The board of directors is working with them to make sure the ABC is still part of the federal law,” ABC president Michael Mazzulli stated in April, according to a report by Combat Sports Law. The Ali Act is under siege! And its biggest threat may come from a new yet marquee player in the boxing world: Dana White and the UFC. Why? Because in today’s political climate, where loyalty to Donald Trump can translate into outsized influence, the MMA juggernaut enjoys unprecedented power in Washington.
Just last month, White reportedly played a key role in securing the release of Russian-American ballet dancer Ksenia Karelina from a Russian prison. It was a diplomatic flex that raised eyebrows. And now, White and the UFC appear to have their sights set on something far more consequential: the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act.
Reports have surfaced that TKO Group Holdings, the UFC’s parent company, is actively lobbying lawmakers to amend the Ali Act. The timing is no coincidence. TKO is set to break into boxing with a new Saudi-backed promotion, TKO Boxing, and they want fewer legal hurdles in their path. The promotion’s debut is set for this September, featuring a blockbuster main event: Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez vs. Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford—a superfight with major implications. But behind the scenes, the stakes may be even higher. By pushing to water down the Ali Act, TKO isn’t just promoting fights—they’re rewriting the rules of the fight game itself.
The promotion is reportedly seeking to function like the UFC model by making its own ‘TKO’ belts for the champions of the limited weight classes instead of dealing with the existing 17 divisions and four different sanctioning bodies. The purpose of the Muhammad Ali Reform Act, which was passed in 1999 and came into effect in 2000, is “to protect the rights and welfare of professional boxers, preventing certain exploitative, oppressive, and unethical business practices,” help bring more effective public oversight of the sport.” And TKO lobbying to overturn parts of the Act has worried many fighters.
Seeing the buzz around the Ali Act, former UFC superstar Jorge Masvidal shared a comic titled ‘The Ali Reform Act It’s Under Attack- Here’s What You Should Know’ made by legendary cutman Stitch Duran. “Promoters acting as your manager and matchmaker-a major conflict of interest,” the first panel of the comic said. The Ali Act does prevent promoters being the matchmaker, which prevents the UFC model from being applied in boxing.
“Long-term contracts, you CANT escape,” the second panel said, referring to boxing contracts having hard sunset clauses, which means fighters are not signed in perpetuity to a promotion even if they have fights left on their contract.
“Hidden financial deals that rob you of your fair cut,” the final panel said, referring to the Ali Act, which legally requires promoters to disclose extensive financial and contractual details to athletic commissions to prevent fighters from being trapped in exploitative contracts.
However, this demand may not bode well for the Bossman, considering the array of contractual disputes the promotion has had with his champions in the past. Remember Randy Couture and his legal battle with Zuffa? Or the entire Francis Ngannou saga that eventually led the former heavyweight champion to leave the promotion in January 2023. But more importantly, the company has recently seen an end to the infamous antitrust lawsuit with the UFC ordered to pay around $375 million to the nearly 1200 plaintiffs in the Le. vs Zuffa case.
Moreover, the UFC’s issue regarding fighter pay is still fresh in 2025, and many fighters, including Wanderlei Silva and Jon Fitch, have said that the Ali Act must apply to the promotion. It seems that won’t be the case though! However, TKO Holdings is not talking about ending or abolishing the Ali Act, they are only talking about amending certain parts of it. So what changes do they want in the legislation? A spokesperson for the UFC and WWE’s parent company spoke about it in comments given to ESPN.
What changes do Dana White and TKO Holding want to see in the Ali Act?
“TKO is having preliminary conversations with members of Congress about how we can work together to expand the Ali Act to create more choices and opportunities for boxers,” a TKO spokesperson told ESPN.
“We believe the enhancements we are discussing could help to inspire a boxing revival in America, provide American boxers with access to greater opportunities and better protections, and lead to more boxing events across our country,” the spokesperson added.
In short, they’re playing it close to the chest and not being forthcoming about the changes that they want to see in the Ali Act. What we do know is that TKO Boxing is going to follow a league model of the UFC, where boxers could be signed to one promoter who also acts as their matchmaker. This is not possible under the current provisions of the Ali Act.
So that is probably going to be one of the parts of the Act that TKO would be lobbying lawmakers to amend. Another change may be relaxing the contractual obligations and financial disclosure requirements on the part of the promoter. But except for that, no one knows what other changes TKO wants to see in the Ali Act. What do you think about concerns around amending the Ali Act?
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